Stan Collymore has jumped to the defence of Saido Berahino after former Stoke City team-mate Glen Johnson ripped the striker to shreds on talkSPORT radio on Thursday morning.
Berahino had his contract cancelled by Stoke this week and after a scathing attack by Johnson on national radio, Collymore points out that the death of his father and the fact that he came to England as a refugee may be behind the ex-West Brom forward’s lack of professionalism.
“Berahino isn’t a good ‘pro’. Agreed,” said Collymore via his personal Twitter account on Thursday.
“Those weighing without understanding the impact of a murdered Dad, being a refugee and travelling alone here should f****** pipe down.
“Cause equals effect. In an industry where offering help is a foreign concept, a little context is needed.”
Collymore then brought up Johnson’s comments about Berahino and slammed the former England right-back for not wanting to say anything bad about Newcastle United’s deadline day signing Andy Carroll, who has had a checkered past of his own.
“I wonder if the pundit outing Berahino as a wrong un will share his dressing room tales of another former teammate, who gets yet another gig, back at Newcastle,” Collymore added.
I wonder if the pundit outing Berahino as a wrong un will share his dressing room tales of another former teammate, who gets yet another gig, back at Newcastle.
I'll wait.
— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) August 8, 2019
OPINION
Collymore is within his right to defend Berahino but having been charged for drink driving on multiple occasions, there’s only so much you can say to have the back of the one highly-rated talent. Carroll’s troubles are in the past – Berahino’s are still very new. Carroll has been arrested several times by police and was even alleged to have had a brawl with ex-Newcastle team-mate Steven Taylor. Yes, Newcastle’s new signing has had issues in the past, but that’s exactly it, they’re in the past now. Since leaving Tyneside to have spells at Liverpool and West Ham, the striker’s not really done anything wrong while Berahino is someone who is now 26-years-old and still making the same mistakes that he has been throughout his career. What happened to Berahino when he was a child was a tragedy and there’s no denying that. It is definitely the type of thing that can shape someone’s attitude and personality. However to compare Berahino to Carroll is just harsh. Everything that can be said about Carroll has already been said while all this Berahino news is exactly that – news.
